Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said the Justice Department should prosecute former President Donald Trump if warranted, arguing not doing so would be a threat to the Constitution.
“I think it’s a much graver constitutional threat if a president can engage in these kinds of activities, and the majority of the president’s party looks away; or we as a country decide we’re not actually going to take our constitutional obligations seriously,” Cheney said in an interview with ABC News’ “This Week” on Sunday. “I think that’s a much, a much more serious threat.”
“I really believe we have to make these decisions, as difficult as it is, apart from politics. We really have to think about these from the perspective of what does it mean for the country,” she added.
The comments come after the Wyoming Republican called Trump a “domestic threat” earlier this week in a speech at the Reagan Library in Southern California.
“We are confronting a domestic threat that we have never faced before – and that is a former president who is attempting to unravel the foundations of our constitutional Republic,” Cheney said. “And he is aided by Republican leaders and elected officials who have made themselves willing hostages to this dangerous and irrational man.”
Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., are the only two Republicans serving on the Jan. 6 panel, which in recent days heard the explosive testimony of former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson. Cheney told ABC she was “absolutely confident” in the testimony, arguing that Hutchinson was “brave” to come before the committee.
Asked if the committee had evidence to corroborate the testimony, Cheney declined to get into specifics.
“The committee has significant evidence about a whole range of issues, including the president’s intense anger,” Cheney said. “I think you will continue to see in the coming days and weeks additional detail about the president’s activities and behavior on that day.”
Cheney’s participation on the committee has put her in danger of losing her seat in Congress, with polling showing her trailing her Trump-endorsed opponent Harriet Hageman by 30 points ahead of August’s primary.